So, I’ve had grand plans
of figuring out a way to simply trilaterate a place between three
points knowing only the distances from those points. Also having become savvy with
calculating distances between points using arc-lengths to account
for the curvature of the earth, I though “Hey, I can do
this…”
After a few hours of cranking out numbers, I realized that I was
into a much bigger problem than originally expected and asked a few
co-workers for some help. Let’s qualify; they are
both Ph.D. Post-Grads – one a physicist and one an
aeronautical engineer.
They do this kind of thing for fun and when I first explained my
problem, the physicist simply said he wouldn’t touch it with
a ten- foot pole. He called it
“Spherical Geometry” and said that most people still
can’t do it.
Now, the aeronautical engineer was not so easily turned away and
has spent the better part of the last 8 weeks of free time popping
out “big equations.” Needless to say, he hasn’t
gotten even close.
So today, I pose a
much-simplified situation of the problem, which occurs in the days
of Gilgamesh (you know, when the Earth was still flat). From a certain three locations, a
fourth can be found.
That’s where you’ll find the cache.
You don’t have to find the
“Thing Series” but it might help to look at the cache
pages.
A little help – To be
placed here if it takes you puzzle solvers too
long…